1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a hinged hood apparatus for covering a front engine room of a vehicle and, more particularly, to a vehicle hood apparatus arranged such that when a vehicle employing the hood apparatus collided with an obstacle while running, it mitigates the collision impact applied to the obstacle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When an obstacle is hit by a running vehicle, the obstacle is often hit first by a front bumper of the vehicle, flown up and then landed on the hood. At this time, the obstacle is imparted with an impact of collision with the hood.
For mitigating such a collision impact, a vehicle hood apparatus is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-9-315266. The proposed hood apparatus is arranged such that upon collision, a rear end of the hood is lifted to provide a gap between the hood and an engine compartment or room so that the hood can deform downward to thereby absorb collision energy. In the hood apparatus, the collision of the vehicle with the obstacle is detected by a collision sensor. Based on a collision signal output from the collision sensor, a control unit actuates a rod of a hood lifting/retaining mechanism to ascend to cause a flexible link mechanism to extend or stretch to thereby lift a rear end of the hood so that a gap is provided between the hood and the engine room and the hood can be retained at its lifted position.
However, the obstacle hit by the vehicle does not always bump against an upper surface of the hood. In this instance, the lifted hood does nothing but to obstruct a driver's view. Since it is undesirable to obstruct a driver's view, the hood should soon be returned to its original position.